CIPS Ontario Presents: 3rd Annual Women in Technology Conference
AI Skills Aren’t Enough: Closing the Leadership Gap for Women in Tech
September 18th 2026 | 5:30 PM – 8:00 PM The Royal Canadian Military Institute, Toronto
Thank you to our Partner:
If women are building AI skills at an unprecedented rate, why aren’t we seeing the same growth in leadership roles?
Join us for an engaging evening of insight, conversation, and connection with women shaping the future of technology. This event features a keynote, interactive panel discussion, and high-value networking with professionals and leaders across the tech community.
Connect with a curated group of peers, mentors, and decision-makers in an intimate setting designed for meaningful conversations.
- Hear from experienced leaders across technology and business
- Gain insights into the real barriers and opportunities in advancing to leadership
- Build connections that support your career growth
️Free Registration for members of CIPS, CIOCAN, and ISACA / $40 for Non-Members
Registration Closes September 17th at 2pm EDT – Reserve your spot!
(Sponsor this Event! Learn about CIPS Sponsorship)
Speakers:
Sabina Posadziejewski, FCIPS, I.S.P., ITCP
Chief Executive Officer, CIPS National
Sabina Posadziejewski is Chief Executive Officer of CIPS and an accomplished technology executive with more than 40 years of ICT leadership experience across Canada, the United States, and Europe. Her career spans executive leadership, public-sector transformation, governance, organizational excellence, mentorship, and professional development.
Sabina has held senior leadership positions with the governments of Alberta and Canada, including serving as a Chief Information Officer. Throughout her career, she has led major digital transformation initiatives, developed governance and service-delivery frameworks, and built high-performing teams.
A dedicated mentor and longtime CIPS leader, Sabina is passionate about supporting emerging professionals, encouraging lifelong learning, and creating opportunities for women and other underrepresented groups to advance in technology leadership. In 2025, she was inducted as a CIPS Fellow in recognition of her exceptional leadership, service, and professional excellence.
Maham Khalid
Vice President, CIPS Ontario
Maham Khalid is a workforce strategist, technology leader, and Vice President of CIPS Ontario, where she also serves as a speaker and moderator for the annual Women in Technology Conference. Across more than 15 years, her career has included leadership and advisory roles with organizations such as the University of Toronto, McMaster University, YWCA Hamilton, Home Depot, and other public, nonprofit, education, and private-sector environments.
A consistent thread throughout her work has been the intersection of learning, workforce transformation, leadership, and human potential. As the Founder of Revohub, Maham works at the intersection of workforce intelligence and emerging technology, helping organizations translate disruption into practical capability. She is known for leading high-impact conversations that connect industry, policy, talent, and innovation, and for challenging audiences to think beyond skills toward leadership, access, and long-term workforce readiness. She is a passionate advocate for creating environments where individuals are not simply trained, but empowered to optimize their potential.
Julie Smithson
Visionary. Educator. Community-builder.
CEO and Co-Founder, METAVRSE
Julie Smithson is an immersive technology leader, community builder, and educator whose mission is to inspire and educate others.
For more than 16 years, Julie has worked at the forefront of immersive and interactive technology. As CEO and Co-Founder of METAVRSE, she has helped build spatial experiences across education, healthcare, enterprise, retail, and virtual collaboration while advancing human-centred approaches to emerging technology.
Julie is also Co-Founder of XR Women, a global nonprofi t community advancing women and underrepresented voices in immersive technology. Over fi ve and a half years, she has helped produce more than 240 virtual and in-person events, connecting members across 60 countries through education, mentorship, leadership development, and meaningful conversations.
As Co-Founder of Unlimited Awesome, Julie is extending her mission into AI-powered entrepreneurship and human development education. Across every initiative, she works to make emerging technologies understandable and accessible, helping people build knowledge, confi dence, and agency to shape a more inclusive, human-centred future together.
Cristina Ardeleanu
Director of Solution Architecture, OMERS
Cristina Ardeleanu is Director of Solution Architecture at OMERS, where she leads the Solution Architecture practice and supports the delivery of complex business and technology initiatives across the enterprise. Her experience spans technology transformation, architecture leadership, governance, cloud platforms, integration, and data solutions.
Cristina is passionate about building high-performing teams, advancing architecture maturity, and enabling innovation through pragmatic governance. She enjoys helping organizations balance delivery, risk, and long-term technology sustainability.
A strong advocate for women in technology, she is committed to mentoring and supporting the growth of future technology leaders. Cristina brings a practical perspective on leadership, technology adoption, and building effective architecture organizations.
Noureen Syed
Executive Advisor, Info-Tech Research Group
Noureen Syed is an Executive Advisor at Info-Tech Research Group, working with C-Suite across professional and financial services clients to help them simplify complexity, go beyond strategy and plans, to prescriptive success. Noureen has lead teams across transformational delivery initiatives, practice leadership and consulting GTM at IBM Consulting to accelerate the business value via adoption of data & AI, analytics and automation, to catalyze client innovation, customer service, finance, business and operational efficiency goals.
Previously, Noureen held various other roles at Microsoft Canada, building on her passion for customer-centricity to drive customer digital transformations, problem solving via cloud technology, and driving cloud business strategy. Noureen is a Computer Engineer with Management Sciences option graduate from the University of Waterloo. Outside of work Noureen is a mom, traveler and loves staying active.
Additional Speakers TBA
Included with CIPS Membership / $40 for Non-Members
(CIOCAN & ISACA Members also access complimentary registration)
CIPS Certified Members – Attend and Earn Re-Certification Credits!